Euphoric - nice riding from the wimmins section!!! My 26 y.o. son has been bike racing about 4 years now and is a cat 1 level rider. He weighs only 140-145 #'s and is 5'-11". All muscle and of all the bike disciplines; he loves hill climbing and crits. He does the best when he goes to West Texas and to Arkansas and races in the mountains. You must have the same make up as he does. I've ridden only 3 times this year for less than 100 miles because my running has been going pretty good and don't want to miss the running time.

6 miles today at 1 PM after church. 90 degrees, 60% humidity, and just a slight breeze. Thankfully just a bit of off and on cloud cover and running from shadow to shadow. 1st 3 miles physical fitness and last 3 for mental fitness.

c'yall next week. Hope to move up to 70 mile range with longest 15.

ksrnr, the second stage of a race for top young riders ended in my town last week. Very exciting to see those kids race in to the finish. It all happens so fast and must be even more exciting to do it as a father. Stay healthy and good luck with your training.

The rides were intersting this weekend and I am not the least bit sore today. I was forced off the road at one point because the rider in front of me suddenly lost power on a hill and I didn't have time to react. I didn't make any comment, but she later said something about how my drafting behind her gave me an advantage (20% of something) and that accounted for my "problem" on the hill. I pulled ahead on the next hill and felt strong all the way to the top. She then attributed my "speed" to the length of my legs instead of any drafting. Now I'm thinking I should draft behind a strong climber.

I'll swim today and hopefully put in a longer run tomorrow. I plan to attempt to run as much of that 4 mile incline as I can next weekend.

I saw my primary physician today and explained all that is going on with me. They did an EKG and sent me to the lab for blood work. He wants to see my cholesterol and rule out anemia, although he believes this is all BP and heart condition related. The EKG was abnormal, and had a different pattern to it from the one I had last year. He sat down with me and tried to explain those ups and downs and the pattern as it compared with last year's but it was all greek to me. He printed out a copy of it to give to my cardiologist next week.

He also contacted the cardiologist to recommend the stress/echo once again, based on the EKG and the fact that my BP was higher than last year. He thinks the BP medication I am taking is no longer right for me but felt that he would defer that recommendation to the cardiologist, who will have the stress/echo results in front of him. I will have the blood results tomorrow as well.

So really there is no news to report but it appears I am doing the right things. The cardiologist will be able to see how much worsening has taken place since my last stress/echo in January of '07. What I have is a mitral valve prolapse, aortic stenosis and some thickining of the right ventricle. The cardiologist talks to me in terms of helping me to achieve a normal life style when of course I want him to talk to me about competitive running, so we don't always have the same agenda. I will know more after the stress/echo results next week. Spareribs

I have been lurking here but thought I would come up for air.

I have a friend who has had 2 heart attacks, has 3 stents and still is running and competing.

So it ain't over until you say it is over. You just want to be smart about it.

Best of luck, of course.

Raider

Euphie; what a beast...she runs, she swims, and she really, really bikes. I am impressed.

You are one determined dude, Rich. Just a little more adjusting and you'll find that sweet spot between too much and too little...

...KS and Fred; you guys are just plain tough....and Raider, you aren't such a bad guy after all.

I did manage to run a single slow mile this morning, but I guess I should save that for July's thread. Fred??